Monthly Archive for December, 2007

: December, 2007

With the recent explosion of MMA, it’s no surprise that Hollywood is jumping on the bandwagon. If you don’t know by now, several MMA themed films are expected to hit theaters soon. While I will probably go see all of them, I’m sure some will be better than others. A trailer for one of the films is already out on the web, and it doesn’t look promising. While some people subscribe to the “any publicity is good publicity” theory, I don’t think this movie will have any good in it at all. Remember how many kids got into street racing soon after “The Fast and the Furious” came out? This film could lead to similar results, and give people the wrong idea about MMA. …

NEW YORK, December 26, 2007 – The International Fight League (OTC.BB: IFLI) today announced that many of its world-champion coaches and athletes will host free classes at their respective martial arts academies and at LA BOXING locations, in support of the National Self-Defense Institute’s “Self-Defense Awareness Month” in January. In all, at least eight schools will hold free classes nationwide. These and other coaches may also sponsor additional classes during the month. …

According to ESPN, champion boxer Floyd Mayweather is considering making a move from boxing to MMA. If Mayweather does indeed decide to trade in his 10 oz. boxing gloves for 4 oz. MMA gloves, it could bring MMA to an entirely new level in terms of popularity. While several other boxers have dipped their toes into the MMA pool, none came into it, with the kind of notoriety and marketability that Mayweather has. It’ll be interesting to see if Floyd is serious about training MMA because it’s very different than boxing training. Stay tuned for more. …

Forget Christmas and the new year, the event I am most excited about is coming up on December 29th. Of course I’m talking about UFC 79: Nemesis. With less than two weeks until the big show, I thought I’d share my brilliant analysis and predictions on the 5 televised fights ; ) …

For those that don’t know, Strikeforce is coming to Tacoma in February. While the full card hasn’t been announced, MMA legend (and Seattle local) Maurice Smith is set to take on standout kickboxer Rick Roufus. Figher/actor/freakshow Bob “The Beast” Sapp (UW alum baby!) is also scheduled to fight a yet un-named opponent. Tickets for the show go on sale this Saturday. Who’s going with me?! …

While I’ve seen my fair share of MMA fights on television, I never had the chance to catch a fight live and in person until this weekend. A group of friends and I went to Ax Fighting’s “Cold Blooded” and I have to say, it was an awesome event. I can’t stress how important it is, that every fan of MMA, watch a live event. The sound of a punch landing on someone’s face, the facial expressions one makes when being put in a submission and the sight of blood and sweat pouring from fighters’ faces is something that can’t really be appreciated, unless you’re there to witness it yourself. While the fighters aren’t of the UFC’s caliber, the action was great and practically every fight ended with a submission, or a TKO. Much props to all the fighters that competed and to the event’s organizers for putting on such a well run show. …

While 2007 has been a crazy and memorable year for MMA, this past weekend may have been the highlight. The UFC’s Ultimate Fighter Finale lived up to the hype, providing a lot of action for free (thank you Spike TV!). While the matchup between Tommy Speer and Mac Danzig was very one sided (Danzig won easily), every other fight was very entertaining. Several guys who lost or withdrew on the show (Troy Mandaloniz, Jon Koppenhaver, and Matt Arroyo) proved they may have what it takes to fight in the UFC. If that weren’t enough, the event between Roger Huerta and Clay Guida was every bit as exciting and action packed as fans had hoped for. Guida lived up to his status as a cardio machine, dominating and frustrating Huerta for the first two rounds. Huerta to his credit, hung tough and eventually caught Guida with several hard strikes that eventually set up a submission win. The UFC also announced the next season of the Ultimate Fighter will feature Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Forrest Griff …

So the good folks over at Spike TV allowed me the opportunity to get in on a media conference call for the upcoming Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale. The conference included, TUF finalists Mac Danzig and Tommy Speer, main event fighters; Clay Guida and Roger Huerta and Spike TV’s Brian Diamond. I’ll recap as much as I can, but the audio wasn’t really set up to allow me to hear the media questions clearly (sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher). …

Sam Vasquez has become the first casualty of regulated mixed martial arts. For those who don’t know, the Houston based fighter died from injuries he sustained during a bout back on October 20th. While he may not have been a big-name fighter, his death could potentially have a big impact on the sport. For years, critics have complained that MMA is too violent and deaths would be inevitable. Yet for some 15 years, no fighter has died from injuries he/she has sustained while competing in a regulated match. Boxing in comparison, averages 10 deaths per year, yet no one is demanding an end to the “sweet science.” While Vazquez’s death should not be taken lightly, I hope it doesn’t create a false sense of fear and send MMA back into the dark ages. Instead, I hope it will force promoters to constantly look for new ways to protect fighters and continually give fans a great product to watch. …

Blog Search

Keyword search across all the entries in this blog.

Browse previous blog posts by month and year of entry. You'll see all the posts for that time period.

Select Month

Show Earlier

Browse previous blog posts by month and year of entry. You'll see all the posts for that time period.